Google to Release Subscription-Based Music Streaming Service

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Google plans to launch a subscription-based music streaming service sometime in the near future.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the company is in negotiations with various music publishers to develop a subscription music service that is somewhat like Spotify for the Android operating system.

Google currently has a scan-and-match music service that is similar to Apple's iTunes Match, and also has a music store in Google Play where Android users can buy music to download onto their tablets and smartphones.

The report also stated that Google's YouTube website wants to obtain licenses from music labels to start a paid subscription service for them.

Apple has also been rumored to be creating a paid subscription service for music, and recent reports have led to the conclusion that the company will officially launch it sometime this year. However, nothing has been confirmed by Apple at this time.

Bloomberg's predictions that Apple would launch this service in the first quarter of 2013 appear to be off.

These subscription services would let Android and iOS users have accounts that would allow them to listen to any new album by an artist of their choice. Companies have contemplated starting these music subscription services to fight the amount of illegal downloading which has hurt physical record sales significantly.

These paid services could provide record labels with another way to generate revenue without have to take it directly from artists' other ventures such as touring and merchandise sales.

Similar services such as Spotify are free on a home computer and generate revenue by advertising in between songs. However, the portable versions such as the Spotify app available for Android and iOS must be paid for on a monthly basis in order to be used fully.